Oven door



J. F. LEE

OVEN DOOR Filed June 20. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet Dec. 29, 1931. I Q E 1,838,271

OVEN DOOR Filt ad June 20, 1930 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Dec. 29, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAIVIES F. LEE, OF CLEVELAND, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR TO HARDWICK STOVE COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, TENNESSEE, A FIRM GOMPOSED OF CHRISTOPHER L. HARIDWICK AND OOOKSEY H. HARDWICK OVEN DOOR Application filed June 20, 1930. Serial No. 462,634.

This invention relates to stove doors and has especial reference to the springs controlling the doors of ovens and broiling compartments. As now generally constructed,

4 stoves and ranges have their ovens and broilmg compartments provided with doors which are hingedly mounted at the lower sides of the door openings and swing outwardly, the brackets by which the doors are mounted in the door frames being so formed as to limit the downward opening movement of the doors so that the door will be supported when opened in a horizontal position. Springs are provided which are attached to or engaged with the hinge brackets and the door frame so that upon a slight impulse being applied to the door the door will at once swing upward into closed position. The springs, as now most generally arranged, are exposed 1 to the heat of the oven or other cooking compartment and quickly deteriorate so as to lose their efliciency, and it is the primary object of the present invention to so locate the springs that they will be out of the heat zone and so located that cooler air may play thereon and, consequently, the temper of the springs will not be lost. Incidental objects of the invention will appear in the course of the following description, and the invention resides in certain novel features which will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of oven and broiler compartment doors having the present invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail perspective View with parts removed showing the mounting of the springs and their connections with the respective doors.

The door frame 1 is of the usual or any approved construction and has mounted thereon an oven door 2 and a broiler compartment door 3, the details of which are immaterial and may be of any well known or desired form. Each door is hingedly mounted in the door frame by trunnions or hinge pins 4 inserted through lugs 5 on the frame and lugs or brackets 6 on the door at the lower corners of the same. As shown in Fig. 3 and as will be understood upon reference to the dotted lines in Fig. 2, the brackets or hinge lugs 6 are so formed as to provide shoulders or stops 7 or 8 which are adapted to impinge against the side of the door frame when the door is open so that the downward movement of the door will be arrested when the door reaches a horizontal plane. On the lower horizontal bar 9 of the door frame which is below the lower door opening, I mount a lug 10 and an alined lug or bracket 11 from the rear of which a pin 12 extends to engage in the lug l0 and around this pin are coiled torsion springs 13 and 14 which are similar in all essential respects and each of which has one end 15 bearing against the frame bar and its other end 16 extended tangentially from the coil and inwardly with respect to the frame. ;a The arms 16 thus defined terminate in hooks 17 and connecting rods 18 and 19 have their lower ends formed into eyes or hooks which areengaged with said hooks, as shown most clearlyin Fig. 3. The rod 19 is comparatively short and has its upper end bent later-- ally and engaged pivotally in the hinge bracket of the lower door 3 while the connecting rod 18 is more extended and has its upper end formed into a lateral hook 20 which is pivotally engaged through the corner lug 6 of the oven door 2, the rod 18 being offset, as shown at 21, near its upper end so that it may pass to the inner side of the lug to be engaged therewith. This formation of the connecting rod will dispose it within the lines of the door frame so that it will not be in the way when the broiler compartment dgor 3 is opened and it also permits the rod to clear the projection or stop 8 on the bracket 6 in which it is engaged.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that the springs exert a constant pull upon the doors to hold them in closed position and when a door is to be opened a positive impulse must be applied thereto. When the door is fully opened, the arm 16 of the spring will be swung upwardly and serve as a crank or lever to increase the tension of the spring but at the same time becomes so disposed that the pull exerted through the connecting rod will be applied along such a line that the door will remain lowered and open, but a slight push will be sufficient to start the closing movement which will be promptly completed by the action of the spring. The springs are arranged in a very compact manner so that inspection of the cooking compartment or the placing of food therein or the removal of cooked articles from the compartment will not be impeded in the slightest degree and the springs will be disposed below the lower compartment where they will be protected from the heat by the floor of the compartment and the cooler air may easily reach thesprings so as to avoid heating of the same. The floors of the cooking compartments have been omitted from the present drawings for the sake of clearance, but it will be understood that, as with all cooking compartments, floors are provided which are substantially on a level with the lower side of the door opening.

. Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. The combination with a stove frame, and a door hingedly mounted at the lower side of a door opening in the frame, of a torsion spring mounted upon the bottom of the frame below the door opening'vvith its axis parallel to the frame and having one end bearing against the frame and its other end extending inwardly to constitute a crank, and a connecting rod connecting the crank with the door, said connecting rod being disposed adjacent one side of the door opening to lie within the lines of the frame.

2. The combination of a stove frame having upper and lower door openings therein, doors, hinge lugs on the doors near the lower corners of the same, cooperating hinge lugs on the frame at the sides of the openings, pivotal connections between the corresponding lugs, alined brackets secured on the frame below the lower door opening at one side thereof, one of said brackets including a pin extending parallel with the frame to and engaged in the other bracket, torsion springs coiled around said pin and each having one' terminal bearing against the frame and its other terminal extended inwardly to form a crank arm, and connecting rods engaged with the free ends of the respective crank arms and extending upwardly therefrom to be pivoted to the hinge lugs on the respective doors, said rods beingdisposed within the lines of the frame and the rod connected to the upper door being offset at its upper end to clear the lower door opening.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

JAMES F. LEE. a 5.

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